Jensen Investment Management Inc. Has $313.73 Million Stock Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Jensen Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,231,044 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 10,901 shares during the period. Equifax accounts for approximately 2.8% of Jensen Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Jensen Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.99% of Equifax worth $313,732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,816,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,415,284,000 after purchasing an additional 52,489 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $950,268,000 after purchasing an additional 880,162 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,885,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $845,041,000 after purchasing an additional 29,742 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,835,102 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $467,676,000 after purchasing an additional 9,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 95.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $412,239,000 after purchasing an additional 791,730 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EFX. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.47.

Equifax Price Performance

NYSE:EFX opened at $235.96 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $253.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $267.50. The company has a market cap of $29.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. Equifax Inc. has a 52-week low of $213.02 and a 52-week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Equifax Profile

Equifax Inc operates as a data, analytics, and technology company. The company operates through three segments: Workforce Solutions, U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), and International. The Workforce Solutions segment offers services that enables customers to verify income, employment, educational history, criminal justice data, healthcare professional licensure, and sanctions of people in the United States; and employer customers with services that assist them in complying with and automating payroll-related and human resource management processes throughout the entire cycle of the employment relationship.